U.S. lawmakers tout Will County funding

A congressman and a U.S. senator hit Will County streets Wednesday to highlight millions of dollars in allocations they obtained through a federal transportation bill approved late last week.

Near Wilmington, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) announced that he and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) had obtained $3 million for an estimated $5 million project to rebuild and widen South Arsenal Road.

Now a two-lane road about 3 miles long accessed via Illinois Highway 53, it will serve as the main access road for the 1,100-acre Island City Industrial Park.

The allocation came out of $215 million over which Durbin and Obama have discretion, Durbin said, calling the allocations "an investment in our economy. ... It's for American jobs for American workers, not jobs that are going to be outsourced overseas."

The industrial park is set to be developed on part of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant site overseen by the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority. Wilmington officials plan to annex the industrial park site, which is in unincorporated Florence Township, said Rick Kwasneski, executive director of the development authority.